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The Drama of the Lost Disciples

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Verifyveritas76

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This book was recommended by @Joleneakamama or @AmbassadorforChrist in another thread.

Mind blowing. 5 Wow rating.

I’m over half way thru it and my mind is reeling from all the info in it. I’m not sure of a few minor claims, but he does such a good job of laying out the history and players in the 15-20 years after the crucifixion that it is a must read for anyone interested in first century Christianity.

For example, 2 Tim 4:21. Do thy diligence to come before winter. Eubulus greeteth thee, and Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia, and all the brethren.

Eubulus - cousin to Claudia
Rufus Pudens - half brother to Paul, Roman Senator, converted pagan
Claudia - wife of Rufus Pudens, sister in law to Paul, Princess of Britain, adopted daughter of Emperor Claudius
Linus - Brother to Claudia, Prince of Britain, First Bishop of Rome ordained by Paul
All of these were the beginning of the above ground Christian church in Rome.

Aristobulus - father in law to Peter and brother of Barnabas.

Much information about Joseph of Arimathea and the establishment of Christianity in Britain 36 AD along with the Apostle Phillip and his work in Gaul

Incredible book!
 
Not that I’ve seen yet. I’m not sure if that is on the authors radar in a positive way. It’s not really the focus of the book.

Edit. There is one place where he describes the Romans as looking down on the Jews for how they treat their women poorly in a polygamous society and that the monogamous Romans society though they had side chicks virtually never divorced their legal wives.
 
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Verifyveritas76 said:
I’m over half way thru it and my mind is reeling from all the info in it. I’m not sure of a few minor claims, but he does such a good job of laying out the history and players in the 15-20 years after the crucifixion that it is a must read for anyone interested in first century Christianity.
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That is about where I was halfway through. Mindblown! With a few reservations on some things that are plausible, but not necessarily factual.
 
Both covers of that book are of Glastonbury Abbey, which is reputed to have been founded by Joseph of Aramathea.

At the start of the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536, there were over 850 monasteries, nunneries and friaries in England. By 1541, there were none. More than 15,000 monks and nuns had been dispersed and the buildings had been seized by the Crown to be sold off or leased to new lay occupiers. Glastonbury Abbey was reviewed as having significant amounts of silver and gold as well as its attached lands.[57] In September 1539, the abbey was visited by Richard Layton, Richard Pollard and Thomas Moyle, who arrived there without warning on the orders of Thomas Cromwell. The abbey was stripped of its valuables[58] and Abbot Richard Whiting (Whyting), who had been a signatory to the Act of Supremacy that made Henry VIII the head of the church, resisted and was hanged, drawn and quartered as a traitor on Glastonbury Tor on 15 November 1539.[59]
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The author says same mother different father. His reasons are because Rufus’ father was a Senator (so of course he couldn’t be a Benjamite). His reasoning revolves around the thinking that a Jew couldn’t be a high ranking Roman, but he starts the book with a lot of details about Joseph of Arimathea who held the rank of Nobilis Decurio.

I can see where they could be full blood brothers but its probably more likely that they were half brothers.
 
Verifyveritas76 said:
His reasons are because Rufus’ father was a Senator (so of course he couldn’t be a Benjamite). His reasoning revolves around the thinking that a Jew couldn’t be a high ranking Roman, but he starts the book with a lot of details about Joseph of Arimathea who held the rank of Nobilis Decurio.
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Paul himself was a Roman citizen, that means he was eligible to serve in the Senate. People of not ethnic-Roman decent started getting into the Senate during the time of Julius Caesar.

I don't know specifically to what extent this happened with Jews but I have heard it said that the more powerful Jews of Rome married into the patrician families. This is at least somewhat buttressed by modern genetics work on the Ashkenazi. And some modern Jews bear more resemblance to the Caesars of old than even modern Italians.

Verifyveritas76 said:
Claudia - wife of Rufus Pudens, sister in law to Paul, Princess of Britain, adopted daughter of Emperor Claudius
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Claudius was the uncle of Caligula and succeeded him as Emperor. Caligula....

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bears striking resemblance to a particular living individual...

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Verifyveritas76 said:
There is one place where he describes the Romans as looking down on the Jews for how they treat their women poorly in a polygamous society and that the monogamous Romans society though they had side chicks virtually never divorced their legal wives.
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That is actually a big win that the author recognizes and contrasts the polygamous Jewish society with the monogamous Roman society. Most do not get this far.
 
Were they really that polygamous by this point though? It hadn't been prohibited yet but Greek monogamy seems to have made strong inroads into Jewish communities by this time.

Or is it more they'd adopted serial monogamy while not fully abandoning polygyny?
 
According to Josephus, aaaaaaall his peeps from old time were poly! Maybe a slight exaggeration but you get the pic. From what I’ve seen, not everyone in Israel was poly, but it was so prevalent as to not cause a stir and to be considered normal. Hellenistic Jews OTOH were more likely to conform to the cultures they lived in but even that wasn’t a given. Consider the ban in 996 AD (ish) on poly by a Jewish Rabbi. It was mainly to deflect persecution from them because they still lived poly.

The main issue that the Romans hated was that the Jewish men practiced divorce for reasons that boggled the mind. Often times so they could afford to marry a newer shinier model.
 
Verifyveritas76 said:
The main issue that the Romans hated was that the Jewish men practiced divorce for reasons that boggled the mind. Often times so they could afford to marry a newer shinier model.
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Well, these were the patricians who would marry for power purposes and philander on the sides with whores or mistresses. From that perspective serial monogamy (for sex) looks like both a waste of potential and a needless source of drama.
 
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